Author's posts
The power of a patient’s thank you
I turned to leave. She spoke softly, “Thank you. Thank you for coming.” The way these words were spoken caused me to gulp a deep breath while my heart fluttered. In my mind, I was doing my job. A physician visiting one of our COVID-positive…
We need each other, as COVID pulls us apart
As a family medicine physician, I am not sure about a whole lot as we turn into the third year of pandemic living. I can’t give you a decent prognosis of where Omicron is going to take us or how many it will take from us. I am not even sure of th…
Awkward Zoom etiquette in the primary care clinic
We had a great conversation throughout the telehealth visit. Maybe one of the best of my week. John seemed to really appreciate our time together. We got ready to close the visit, something I still find a bit awkward over the phone. No body language to…
What is a positive that has come from the pandemic?
I had a crazy thought. Each time I walked into a room to see a patient, I would ask them a question that would be more in line with this blog than with the usual “Where does it hurt?” and “What’s wrong with you?” taught in medical school. Remember that…
As we emerge from COVID, give space and grace to those around you
I am guessing you have felt it. Maybe you have participated or contributed to it. Exuberant hope Unmasked optimism Guiltless travel After a year of living in fear and isolation, bound and gagged, there is a loosening of the bonds. We struggle and wrigg…
COVID is a race with no finish
As a devoted runner, I find life lessons from this movement that help me get through difficult times. Journey with me for a moment. We have signed up for a distance running race. For some of us, this is familiar territory. For others who consider payin…
This physician misses seeing his patients
As I finished the endless clicking, the clinic day came to a close. Clicking to begin and end phone visits. Clicking to get on and off Zoom visits. The endless video game clicking that is life as a physician documenting electronic health records. Too b…
An appreciation for the sacred spaces at work
As a healer who has been doing my work in the dark, blind in a sense, today was a big day. The visit was scheduled, not as a phone visit but as my first Zoom visit since the pandemic began 150 days ago. Usually, I see about 30 patients in-person a week…
2 stories that remind us to find joy and creativity in our new normal
“Hope things go back to normal soon.” That was the text I received from a friend yesterday. It struck me in reading those words that I have stopped thinking or worrying about the end of the pandemic. In those first months, absolutely. Daily thoughts of…
Make music out of the sounds that life presents
Way back when humans listened to music without Spotify, AirPods, or smartphones. In those BSP (before smartphone) days, people would actually get off their tooshies (the medical term for the gluteal area) and walk over to a thing called a stereo to adj…
- 1
- 2
